List Mania, and Other Observations from the Irish Sea

Internet service out here off the coast of Scotland and steaming into the Irish Sea continues to be intermittent, slower than smoke signals, and extremely expensive, so posts will continue to be episodic.

The Puffington Host and other high traffic websites employ one of the oldest marketing tricks in the book: lists. The top five diet tips, five best burger joints, the ten most illuminating insights of Barack Obama, and so forth. Okay, that last one was a joke. So are most of these lists. But who can resist clicking through? I’ll admit to being a sucker, usually for real estate porn, like the 10 Most Gaudy Home Theaters, or the Five Most Bizarre Swimming Pools, etc.

Coming soon: the top ten new Malthusians of our time, since it is long past time to retire Paul Ehrlich’s jersey, the five best environmental websites, and the five best energy websites.

Meanwhile, the photo below does indeed display Karl Rove, Walter Williams, and Moi in front the gravesite of Adam Smith in Edinburgh, Scotland, yesterday, where we did offer a prayer for resurrection of Smithian economics. I failed, however, in persuading Karl and Walter to join me in staging a revival of Steve Allen’s old “Meeting of Minds” show, with Walter channeling Adam Smith and me playing the part of Smith’s wingman, David Hume. Rove? Easy: he’d be William Wallace.

Still time to lobby for a Power Line cruise or. . . canoe trip in Minnesota.